How Can We Use These Tools?
as a Conservation Tool
Grass seeded here after an accidental burn in Lake County reduced
erosion, kept out weeds, and reduced danger of another fire.
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Logging
rass
Sfc«*"-
Shallow soil at base of hill is a good place to seed grass, it prevents
erosion and makes more feed than native vegetation
TH
^ Rotate crops, growing grasses and legumes part of the time.
^ Seed permanent grass strips in all natural
waterways.
^ On cultivated hillsides subject to erosion,
use alternate strips of grass and grain, thereby
cultivating across the slopes. The grass then
acts as a filter, straining out the sediment from
moving water.
*■ Seed the steep hills to permanent grass
and legumes.
^ Seed shallow soil to permanent grass
and legumes.
^ Seed grass on disturbed areas in pine forests after logging.
^ Seed pine forest land to grass after accidental burns.
^ Seed field borders and roadways to permanent grass.
^ Try desperately to learn how to graze the
grass without injury, for the grass is easily offended and will get up and leave if treated
uncivilly. The grass can grow only from the
action of its leaves. Let the leaves function, but
learn how the livestock can have their grass
and eat it too.
skidways are often seeded to grass. It stops erosion and
provides feed for cattle and wildlife.
EXTENSION CIRCULAR 630
Where grass is eaten too closely (right), the soil is left bare for erosion.
When pastured moderately (left), there is no chance for erosion.
JUNE 1957
Federal Cooperative Extension Service
Oregon State College • Corvallis
This leaflet was prepared by E. R. Jackman, Extension Range Crops
Specialist, Oregon State College, as part of a conservation series.
Cooperative
F. E. Price,
Department
furtherance
Extension work in Agriculture and Home Economics,
director. Oregon State College and the United States
of Agriculture cooperating. Printed and distributed in
of Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914.
BEFORE THE ADVENT OF MAN, the earth
was a well-dressed member of the sun's
planetary family. She was neatly clothed in contrasting shades of green, with her forest cape
and hat, her wild flower costume jewelry, and
her grass skirt. Primitive man presumably
admired the costume because he let it alone.
But modern man, with his hungry millions of
children, has ripped up the grass skirt, appropriated the jewelry, and burned up or carried away the cape and hat.
This didn't happen at first because there
wasn't bare ground—grass and trees covered it
up. They protected the earth originally, and are
still man's best soil conservation tools. We can
strip crop, contour cultivate, leave the residues
on top, but all we are doing is slowing down
the rate of erosion. Grass and legumes, properly
used, can control erosion, or rebuild eroded
soils.
The legumes are necessary to drag down
the unwilling nitrogen from the air, allow the
grass to double its root system, and build humus. Grass without a legume builds humus very
slowly. Grass and legumes together build it at
a prodigious rate. Reason is that when a legume
The humus and other plant material does
these things: helps prevent erosion; helps get
water into the soil; makes soil easier to work;
supports bacteria that liberate plant food; and
stores foods needed by the plants.
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Summer fallow, row crops, and the long
wait between plowing and a protective cover—
these things expose the earth's surface to wind,
rain, and sun. The sun heats the soil; the bacteria
in the soil multiply at a furious rate, attacking
and breaking down organic matter and, ultimately, loosening the soil particles; the rain
splashes down and runs away, carrying soil
with it; then sun and wind combine to dry and
drift the lighter particles. That is the story of
erosion. First expose the soil, then alternately
wet and dry it, then bake it and turn loose the
wind. Erosion will result from both the wind and
water.
is grown with the grass, the yield is usually
doubled. You can see that everywhere. But what
you can't see is that the root system is also
doubled or more. So when the crop is plowed,
there is twice as much plant material to decay
and change into humus.
This little gully was fast becoming a big gully until seeded to grass.
So grass and legumes form a holding corporation to hold the soil firmly against erosion,
build back the lost organic matter, and enrich
the soil for the following crops. Roughly, each
year in grass and legumes restores organic matter lost in a year of cultivated crops.
Luckily, we have both grasses and legumes
for nearly every condition in Oregon—wet or
dry; sand or clay; mountain or plain. These
plants are our chief soil conservation tools.
EROSION SUCH AS THIS CAN BE PREVENTED BY SEEDING NATURAL WATER RUNWAYS.
How Can We Use These Tools?
rass
as a Conservation Tool
Grass seeded here after an accidental burn in Lake County reduced
erosion, kept out weeds, and reduced danger of another fire.
Fo IS
ht r m P
U
tp
:// os BL
ex t c IC
te ur A
ns re TI
io nt ON
n. in
or fo IS
eg rm O
on at U
st ion T O
at :
F
e.
D
ed
AT
u/
E.
ca
ta
lo
g
^ Rotate crops, growing grasses and legumes part of the time.
^ Seed permanent grass strips in all natural
waterways.
^ On cultivated hillsides subject to erosion,
use alternate strips of grass and grain, thereby
cultivating across the slopes. The grass then
acts as a filter, straining out the sediment from
moving water.
*■ Seed the steep hills to permanent grass
and legumes.
^ Seed shallow soil to permanent grass
and legumes.
^ Seed grass on disturbed areas in pine forests after logging.
^ Seed pine forest land to grass after accidental burns.
^ Seed field borders and roadways to permanent grass.
^ Try desperately to learn how to graze the
grass without injury, for the grass is easily offended and will get up and leave if treated
uncivilly. The grass can grow only from the
action of its leaves. Let the leaves function, but
learn how the livestock can have their grass
and eat it too.
Sfc«*"-
Shallow soil at base of hill is a good place to seed grass, it prevents
TH
erosion and makes more feed than native vegetation
Logging
skidways are often seeded to grass. It stops erosion and
provides feed for cattle and wildlife.
EXTENSION CIRCULAR 630
Where grass is eaten too closely (right), the soil is left bare for erosion.
When pastured moderately (left), there is no chance for erosion.
JUNE 1957
Federal Cooperative Extension Service
Oregon State College • Corvallis
This leaflet was prepared by E. R. Jackman, Extension Range Crops
Specialist, Oregon State College, as part of a conservation series.
Cooperative
F. E. Price,
Department
furtherance
Extension work in Agriculture and Home Economics,
director. Oregon State College and the United States
of Agriculture cooperating. Printed and distributed in
of Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914.